A Study of Admission Officers' Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Homeschool Students

Journal of College Admission, Fall 2004 by Jones, Paul, Gloeckner, Gene

Discussion

Nearly three-fourths of the colleges and universities in the survey had an official homeschool admission policy. Barnebey's (1986) study found that 90 percent of the institutions did not have an official homeschool admission policy. Jenkins (1998) study found that only 47 percent of the community college admission officers surveyed had an official admission policy for homeschooled graduates.

The ACT or SAT test was found to be the preferred item utilized for consideration for admission, followed by an essay or GED test score. Similar results were found in Jenkins' and Barnebey's studies, although 97 percent of the admission officers in Barnebey's study stated that high school grades were a standard requirement. Jenkins's study also revealed that no community college admission officer reported that they would require an essay for admission.

The final research question asked about the attitudes and perceptions of admission personnel toward the homeschooled graduate population.

Overall, more than half (55 percent) of the admission officers surveyed expected homeschooled graduates to perform about the same as traditional high school graduates (overall success rate, first-year grade point average, retention rate, credit hours earned, and social coping); 18 percent expected homeschooled graduates would be more successful; and nearly 12 percent expected homeschooled graduate would be less successful. Jenkins' (1998) study found that not as many community college admission officers expected homeschool students to be as successful (36 percent) as traditional high school graduates; however, 27 percent of the admission officers expected homeschooled students to be more successful than traditional high school graduates, and only 5.7 percent expected homeschooled students to be less successful than traditional high school graduates. Barnebey's (1986) study found that nearly 46 percent of the admission officers that accepted homeschooled applicants expected them to be as successful, 4.5 percent more successful; however, 50 percent expected homeschooled students to be less successful.

The study revealed that only 16.4 percent of the admission officers would encourage homeschooled students to attend a community college or junior college prior to attending a four-year institution. This compares to 65.5 percent of the admission officers in Barnebey's (1986) study who stated that they would encourage homeschooled applicants to attend a junior/community college before applying to a four-year institution.

This study revealed that nearly 11 percent of the institutions received between 30-49 applications each year from homeschooled applicants, 40 percent received between 10-29 applications, and nearly 44 percent received less than 10 applications each year.

Also, 33 institutions indicated they require homeschooled graduates to submit a portfolio for admission; 37 required a personal interview and GED; 35 required the SAT II subject tests; and 40 required homeschooled students to submit letters of recommendation. This might indicate that admission officers may be requiring homeschooled graduates to jump through more admission hoops than traditional high school graduates. Therefore, homeschooled graduates may be opting for fewer hoops to jump through and are applying to and attending the community college prior to applying to the four-year college or university.